Interview: Birdmonster

Thu Mar 30, 03:01 PM by

Every once in a while, a band comes around that forces you to really sit up and take notice of what they’re doing. Rather than just listening to the music, Birdmonster challenges its listeners to get up, dance, sing along, and really experience the feeling they’re trying to convey in their songs. Birdmonster, based in San Francisco, blends a variety of genres into something uniquely its own—drawing apt comparisons to the likes of Modest Mouse and Springsteen. The band consists of:

Peter Arcuni – guitar, lead vocals
David Klein – guitar, vocals
Justin Tenuto – bass, banjo, strange keyboard horn?
Zach Winter – drums

Recently, I got a chance to sit down and chat with David, Justin, and Peter. Listen to their tunes on Myspace while you read what they have to say about their beginnings, their new album dropping April 11, opening for the likes of The National and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, playing South By Southwest, and the music industry.

LaunchCommit: How did Birdmonster come about?
Peter Arcuni: I moved to San Francisco and after about a month out here i met Justin. He and I started playing acoustic together.
David Klein: I think Justin and Peter were both amazed that the other didn’t want to cover Dave Matthews songs. [laughs]
PA: Those guys had messed around in college, but hadn’t been playing music out here, so it wasn’t like they had this instrumental prog rock band or anything. The forming of the band was very natural.


LC: Justin and David had known each other for over 16 years, and they knew Zach from college and had played together for awhile. Was that at all weird for you to jump into that dynamic?
PA: Good question. It actually never really felt like that. I don’t think they’d ever played consistently with a singer or someone who wrote songs with lyrics, so i definitely brought that. And they expand my musical conceptions and ideas. As for the personal adjustment, that was pretty darn easy too. I think it’s nice to have a band that gets along tremedously well and can be a family, but also comes from different perspectives, because in a way that’s what Birdmonster is all about.


LC: So how have things changed for you in the last year? Did you ever expect to be where you are now a year ago?
PA: Now we have a record, which is great for us because we’ve spent the last 2 years preparing for that. We also can play more shows at cooler places, and I quit my day job. But life is still very much the same; nice and ordinary.
DK: We are way better musicians. That’s probably the best thing. We are selling out our SF shows. Did we expect to be here? I don’t know. When we first started the band, I was a little naive. I never envisioned us self-releasing an album and shunning most labels.


LC: What went in to the decision to shun the labels?
DK: Right now we own 100% of our music and it feels great. No one told us how to make this album and no one can tell us what to do with it.


LC: What type of music would you say inspires and influences your sound the most?
DK: It depends on the person I guess. For me, Black Sabbath, Bad Religion, Tom Petty, At the Drive-In. For Zach, Fugazi is big.
PA: Thats always a hard one because I try not to make any decisions about a song in an overly conscious way. But then again, influences bleed through. I’d say The Kinks, Tom Waits, Springsteen, The Replacements. Elvis, Dylan, Buddy Holly…
Justin Tenuto: Captain and Tennille


LC: Clearly…[laughs] So let’s talk about your songwriting. Can you describe the process?
DK: We all write our own parts. Someone starts playing something in our practice studio, sometimes a melody or rhthym that they have been working on for awhile, sometimes random shit. We don’t talk too much. Most songs start out 15 minutes long, and then they get cut down. Some songs, like All the Holes in the Walls, took over a year to write. Resurrection Song from the EP was written in full in about 30 minutes. It just came together.


LC: You got to record No Midnight in a pretty interesting environment. Describe it for our readers, and how that environment affected your recordings.
DK: Yeah, it was crazy. Three, fast-as-we-can days in fancy Grand Master, and then 2 weeks at our engineers house. We mixed some of the album in L.A., and some of it on the road through many, many emails.


LC: How do you think No Midnight compares to the EP?
JT: You can hear the bass!
DK: It’s a much more complete work.
PA: I think No Midnight has a lot more energy. It’s just as scrappy and rough around the edges but it’s more filled out, more extreme, more rocking. But more acoustic too. I think we’re always going to be going in new directions so there was stuff on the EP that we’ve elaborated on, and stuff we’re just taking in a different direction. But hopefully it has a lot of energy and heart, and not too much polish. That can come later.


LC: That brings me to your live show. It’s one of the most intense things I’ve ever seen. What can you tell us about your live show that separates you from other bands?
DK: The shows have gotten crazy.
PA: I think it comes from a desire to be doing nothing else at that moment. Just leaving it out there and not being afraid to have a good time, or get caught up in it. There are a lot of muscians who don’t care about performing but do it because they have to. For me, it’s just as important as anything else. You know, communicating your songs. But with a record, it’s finite: live anything can happen. And that’s exciting.


LC: You guys were lucky enough to play South By Southwest a few weeks ago, all throughout Texas. What can you tell me about that? Any cool stories?
PA: I saw Elijah Wood, which someone told me is a rite of passage at SXSW. That’s when you know you’ve really arrived.
DK: We got in a fight with tapes ‘n tapes.
LC: Really?
DK: No. They’re badasses. The fader tent was crazy. I cut my hand early on in the show and could hardly hold my pick. We also did the standard issue way too faded SXSW nonsense. We played some shows with them and got along really well. Amazing bastards.
PA: SXSW was really good to us. I’m just happy we played our best. At the end of the night, the only question I have is “did we give it our all?” and I’m proud of the boys cause I really think we did. It’s sorta like sport when i think about it, which sounds really lame. But you practice and you play and you hustle and scrap it out no matter how you’re feeling before hand.


LC: You guys seem to be the darlings of the blogs right now. How did that come about, and how has it affected your career as a band? Just today I saw you guys were featured on rockinsider, gvb, mokb. YOU’RE BLOWING UP
DK: Mark from music for robots was doing The National’s merch while they were on tour with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. They mentioned something to him about us. Also, some amazing fans sent copies of our EP to some bloggers. It has definitely helped us get a fanbase. People from the Netherlands and Australia are ordering our LP. Also, I know about shitloads more great bands.
PA: I think in a way we’re just really lucky. And it reflects an effort to accept how the industry is changing. We’ve been doing it all ourselves. So while sending a cd to Rolling Stone is a waste of time, sharing your music with people who genuinely seem to be looking for new and interesting stuff makes so much more sense.


LC: What’s your take on how the industry is changing? You’ve had a DIY ethic from the beginning with this band. How do you see the changes in the industry affecting independent musicians?
PA: I think there’s good and bad. It’s certainly great to break up the power dynamic where it used to be so major [label]-centric. Now indie labels are doing pretty well. I’m not against labels, but it’s nice to have more options. On the other hand, now I feel so flooded with bands that I get a little lost trying to figure out what to listen to. The influx of bands on Myspace and other web avenues dilutes what’s out there.


LC: What’s on the horizon for Birdmonster after the mini-tour?
DK: More touring. We need to get to the east coast and the UK. Then record another album. It’s going to be a rap-rock concept album about Joe Rogan.


LC: What are you guys listening to these days?
PA: The tapes n tapes record. THE BAND’s box set. Elvis Costello: This Year’s Model. This band The 88 that sounds like Elvis Costello. And I just went through a nice, well-deserved, Beatles binge. It had been too long.
DK: Tapes ‘N Tapes, Division Day, The Mountain Goats.


LC: Why do you think your music is being characterized as more honest than alot of what’s out there right now?
PA: Hmmm, I didn’t know that. I’m not sure. I listen to other stuff and think it’s more catchy, but I think our music is maybe refreshing because it’s rock and roll, not this hip-retro statement. And I like the retro sounding stuff, I just want to write good songs and bring them to life in an interesting way. And the dynamic of Birdmonster allows us all to do that. Arrangements and songwriting happen naturally until they FEEL right. And FEELING is the most important thing, but not in an EMO tortured way. [laughs] We don’t talk too much about how something “should” sound, and maybe that’s why people sense that, because it’s built into how we work.


LC: OK, last one. Since we’re talking so much about feelings: how do you feel about the fact that you’re about to drop a finished product, a full-length LP, on the world in less than 2 weeks?
DK: I feel fucking great.
PA: [Laughs] Scared shitless. You know what, I have no idea how I’m “supposed” to feel. [laughs] But for real, I really don’t. It’s sorta like having a crush on a girl and you’re about to talk to her. You’ve been planning to talk to her for a while. And you have butterflies. But you’re ready for it anyways. Damn, looking back at those butterflies…that’s sorta the best part.




http://www.birdmonster.com
http://www.myspace.com/birdmonster
http://birdmonster.blogspot.com/

Previous Article: Almost as Funny as Family Circus: Yo Numba
Next Article: Act Like You Know: Barry Bonds is an Asshole.
Q: Anything New Here?